By Witness Radio Team

Hundreds of residents in Bulima and Bukayo villages, Bulima Sub-county, Buvuma Island District, are on the verge of eviction from the land they have lived and cultivated for generations to pave the way for the expansion of oil palm growing.

Palm oil in Buvuma is a partnership between Oil Palm Buvuma Limited (OPBL), the Ugandan government through the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP), and smallholder farmers who are organized into the Buvuma Oil Palm Out Growers Cooperative Society. OPBL, a subsidiary of Bidco Uganda Limited, manages the project’s nucleus estate.

Palm oil projects worldwide have faced widespread criticism from host communities for being linked to land grabbing and the criminalization of residents who resist their expansion. They are also accused of causing severe environmental degradation due to monoculture planting, massive deforestation, and the destruction of local ecosystems.

In Uganda, where the oil palm project first began in Kalangala District, the scars left on affected communities have never healed. Despite unresolved grievances, unaddressed environmental damage, and injustices, the project has expanded into other districts, including Buvuma, bringing with it similar negative impacts that far outweigh the promised benefits.

According to Witness Radio investigations, more than 300 families in Bulima and Bukayo villages, occupying approximately 356 acres of land, are facing forced eviction. Tensions escalated on the 5th and 6th of September when officials from the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP) arrived on community land with a tractor, allegedly to clear residents’ gardens for palm oil plantation expansion.

Eyewitnesses told Witness Radio that community members resisted the intrusion, stopping the tractors and demanding to know why their land was forcefully being taken without consent or compensation. The confrontation resulted in chaos as residents sought to protect their livelihoods.

Many of the affected residents, who have lived on the land for decades, are left questioning the injustice of their situation. Mr. Adam Kiyonga, one of the affected community members from Bulima Village, revealed that the company claimed to have compensated a one Aloziyo Nakibondwe, the alleged landlord for the same land in 2008. This action has left him and other residents puzzled as to why they are also being displaced without any form of compensation, a stark example of the injustice they are facing.

“The palm oil company had come to raze our gardens to create room for planting oil palm trees. We were told that the company claimed to have bought the land from our ‘landlord’, Aloziyo Nakibondwe. However, we also learned that the company allegedly asked him to compensate the affected tenants, something he never did.

We are surprised that the company now wants to take our land for free. We have heard of other communities whose land was taken without any compensation, and it seems the government wants to do the same to us. We are living in fear because we are likely to lose our only source of livelihood to the oil palm project,” said Adam Kiyonga in an interview with Witness Radio.

Mr. Kiyonga further revealed that the angry residents confronted and chased away the company officials, warning them not to proceed with the eviction without compensation.

“We chased them away because this is our land. “If they hadn’t left, people were ready to burn their tractor,” Kiyonga revealed

According to Kiyonga, people have been paying ground rent, which recognizes their interests in the land being grabbed. “We are bibanja owners, not squatters. We have been paying ground rent, which recognizes our occupancy rights. Why should we be evicted? You can’t just take people’s land because a government backs you up”. He angrily added.

In Uganda, a Kibanja is a form of land holding or tenancy that is subject to the customs and traditions of the Baganda, characterized by user rights and ownership of developments on land in perpetuity, subject to payment of an annual rent (busuulu) and correct social behavior, distinct and separate from ownership of the land on which the developments are made and in respect of which the user and occupancy rights exist.

The contested land is not only home to hundreds of families but also hosts Bukayo Health Center III, several churches, and a mosque. If the evictions go ahead, the community fears losing essential health and worship spaces, as well as their primary means of survival.

“If they take this land, we will have nowhere to go and nothing to live on. The government should either compensate us or leave our land,” Kiyonga added.

For Mr. Dan Wasswa, a 47-year-old father of 13 from Bulima, this is not the first time he has faced eviction linked to the oil palm project. He told Witness Radio that his land, measuring 11.5 acres, was first taken by the company in 2016 for palm oil cultivation.

“In 2014, they told us our landlord, Pascal Kibondwe, had sold the land to NOPP and that we tenants would be compensated on a willing buyer–willing seller basis. When they surveyed my land, they claimed I had 7 acres, but my own survey revealed 11.5 acres. But they compensated me for only 7 acres and at a very low rate.” Wasswa recalled.

He added that in 2021, the company destroyed his remaining 4.5 acres, which had not been compensated for, and planted palm oil trees, which are now at the harvesting stage.

“The other 4.5 acres were taken without any compensation, and the company has already planted on them. Even for the 7 acres they claim to have compensated me for, the money I received was very little. Now, they are targeting another piece of my land in Budima. We are wondering what we can do because this company is acting with total impunity, and no one seems willing to address this problem,” Wasswa added.

Across Buvuma Island District, communities face similar struggles with land loss and displacement due to oil palm expansion.

Wasswa reveals that many communities have lost their land in the process and have been pushed into an uncertain state. “People are being told to vacate their land for the oil palm project, which is described as a public good. They are always promised that compensation will be given to them later, but many have waited in vain and grown tired of demanding what is rightfully theirs. Some communities have now spent more than a decade waiting for compensation,” Wasswa said.

The oil palm project in Buvuma district, which began in sub-counties such as Busamuzi sub-county, to Nairambi Sub-county, has expanded into several areas, including Majjo and Bukula villages, where Witness Radio earlier documented cases of forced evictions, destruction of property, and the criminalization of community members resisting the land grabs.

Despite widespread complaints and protests, residents say the project’s expansion into Bulima and Bukayo continues unchecked.

“If they want our land, they should come, survey it, value it, and compensate us. But we cannot give it away for free. Many people before us were promised compensation that never came. We fear the same fate.” Mr. Kiyonga concluded.

Witness Radio attempted to contact the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP) for comment, but calls to their known contacts went unanswered.